Does your router really matter for performance?

How far can your home DSL router take you?

[Herath]

We started our business in a basement 2 years ago on a cable modem.

Today we use our own collocated server at a local ISP on a DS3 link. Our current server is probably 10 times better performing than the cheap PC we used 2 years ago.

Here's my question.
Eventhough we have evolved a lot during last 2 years, our router stayed the same. Its a simple/cheap Linksys Home DSL router.

It seems to be doing a good job, but somtimes we wonder if it's somwhat becomming a bottle neck for performance.

Our site receives:

2685000 Hits / Month (Average)

380000 Page views / Month (Average)

10 GB of data transfer / Month (Average)

I am hoping the folks here at webmasterworld will be able to thorw in some advice on how to choose a better router for this site. Or does the router really matter?

Thanks.

[txbakers]

Don't sell yourself short on those Linksys Routers. They are very powerful little devices. Cisco wouldn't haven't bought the company if they made junk.

I ran my business the same way for two years, on the Linksys router/DSL before moving to a dedicated box (didn't want to colocate) and still use the router for running the home server for certain functions.

It needs a reboot every so often, but I've never had any complaints with it.

However, it wouldn't work if you needed multiple HTTPS sites on one machine. The router can only handle one external WAN address. The next step up would be a Cisco Pix 501 or similar.

[Herath]

Thanks txbackers for the information.

When looking at the sepcs of Cisco PIX 501 I noticed the following:

Cleartext throughput: 60 Mbps
Concurrent connections: 7500

Does these attributes really matter for a website?
I am wondering what these numbers are for the linksys.

[txbakers]

I'm not really sure, but the Pix 501 was recommended to me by our senior network guy at the office as a great first step to the Cisco products. At about $300 it's a great price for a great unit.

[Brett_Tabke]

Explain your setup again. How does a linksys fit into a a box at your ISP?

[Herath]

Brett,

ISP's Switch is connected to a DS3

ISP Switch
¦
Linksys Router
¦
10/100 NI Card
¦
Server Box
(Windows 2000)

[Brett_Tabke]

Oh ok - sorry to interrupt then. I've never heard of anything like that before. Every colocated I've been around always includes a quality router direct to the switch.

[txbakers]

Yeah, my new host won't allow anything other than rack mounted equipment so I couldn't use my PIX there.

Some places do allow alternate equipment like described above.

[Herath]

Network gurus at webmasterworld!,

I am trying to find the meaning of the following two attributes in a router.

Cleartext throughput

Concurrent connections

These are common attributes in CISCO routers. How do they effect the performance of a website?